After two years of planning and meeting with the community, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Fort Collins Colorado Temple for Aug. 24, 2013.

After two years of planning and meeting with the community, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Fort Collins Colorado Temple for Aug. 24, 2013.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be by invitation only, but it will be broadcast via satellite to LDS stake centers for viewers within the temple’s district to see. With this go-ahead from the city’s planning and zoning board, the 30,389-square-foot temple is scheduled for completion in mid-2015, according to Eric Adams, a church spokesman.

Upon its dedication, the Fort Collins Temple will serve members living in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, as well as some living in western Nebraska.

According to the LDS website Mormon Temples, “Temples differ from the Church’s chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered ‘houses of the Lord’ and are used by faithful members of the Church for marriages, baptisms and ordinances intended to provide eternal family relationships.”

Currently, there are 171 LDS temples either in operation, under construction or announced. President Thomas S. Monson announced the Fort Collins Temple in the opening session of the April 2011 general conference. It will be the second temple in Colorado, following the Denver Temple, which was dedicated in 1986.